Hello all,

When reviewing literature on Apple success and design, I have come across a useful paper 'An Agenda for Research on the Relationships between Industrial Design and Performance' by Candi & Gemser (2010).
http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/article/view/727

I have a number of questions that I hope someone can help me with:


1.       The authors focus on the relation between Industrial Design and performance in the context of new product development. My question is:  How is research on new product development related to research on innovation? (The reason I ask this question is simply because I am new to the literature and have no idea).



2.       If new production development is directly related to innovation, then my question is: Is the research agenda proposed by Candi & Gemser also applied to research on design and innovation in general?



3.       If Candi and Gemser are correct about the gaps in studying Industrial Design and performance, then is it fair to say that our claims on the importance of (Industrial) Design to (let's say) market success are still to a large extent questionable (scientifically).


Below is a part of the conclusion made by Candi & Gemser:

"The primary goal of this article is to develop a research agenda for studying the relationships between industrial design and performance in the context of new product development (NPD).
There are a number of important gaps in the existing research. These gaps include the failure to operationalize industrial design broadly enough, so as to include emphasis, capabilities, outcomes and management. Multi-faceted means of measurement and evaluation are also needed for industrial design outcomes, including not only self-assessments by managers, evaluations by customers, design experts or peers, but also combinations of these and comparisons between them. There is a lack of well-supported findings about the effectiveness of using professional industrial designers versus silent industrial designers and in-house designers versus external designers. Much of the existing industrial design research is case-based research conducted in firms recognized for design excellence or uses quantitative methodologies but with relatively small samples. Although this research provides compelling pictures of how industrial design can contribute, quantitative research using larger samples is called for. Related to this is a lack of research to address causality and performance feedback. Finally, although some research models have included moderating influences, a more comprehensive approach is still needed."

Thank you,
Rosan







Rosan Chow, Ph.D.
Senior Research Scientist

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